MINSK, 22 January (BelTA) – The Interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS IPA) should not limit itself to offering a venue for dialogue. Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Vladimir Andreichenko made the statement as he met with Sergei Antufyev, Acting Secretary General, Head of the Secretariat of the Council of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, on 22 January, BelTA has learned.

Vladimir Andreichenko reminded that a session of the CIS Heads of State Council took place in Sochi, Russia in October 2017. The modernization of the work of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly was discussed among other things as well as the CIS IPA's adaption to new conditions. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko made a number of critical remarks back then. “The most important one is that the CIS IPA should not act solely as a platform for dialogue and discussions. It should make concrete decisions aimed at improving the life of our people,” believes the head of the lower chamber of the Belarusian parliament.

Vladimir Andreichenko mentioned three avenues the CIS IPA efforts should be channeled into. Those are the development of model laws, the monitoring of election campaigns, and participation in international events.

Speaking about model laws, Vladimir Andreichenko noted that a lot of work had been done in this sphere. He believes that all the interested parties should analyze how model laws are implemented into national laws, whether they are in demand and are applied. “The CIS Interparliamentary Assembly should think about future taking into account the advance of digital technologies, power engineering, and investments. In other words, all the things that the CIS states need today,” believes Vladimir Andreichenko.

According to Vladimir Andreichenko, the CIS IPA's International Institute for Monitoring Democracy Development, Parliamentarianism and Suffrage Protection of Citizens could put more efforts into analyzing national laws, particularly election legislation. The institute could play a role on par with the Venice Commission or the OSCE ODIHR.

International cooperation in the Commonwealth of Independent States follows rather high standards. According to Vladimir Andreichenko, it is necessary to continue putting efforts into making actions more cohesive “so that we could defend interests of our countries as a whole and each country individually.”

In turn, Sergei Antufyev noted that the critical remarks made by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko in Sochi testified to Alexander Lukashenko's interest in the CIS IPA's work. Alexander Lukashenko suggested the CIS IPA should monitor the fulfillment of decisions made by the CIS Heads of State Council and the CIS Heads of Government Council. The CIS IPA believes it would be a nice way to update the organization's routines, stressed Sergei Antufyev.

The CIS IPA's future was discussed during the meeting. For instance, the assembly intends to more actively involve specialists from the CIS states in the development of model legislation. According to Sergei Antufyev, by doing so, the assembly could make model laws more effective.